The worldwide push last week for the premiere of the film documentary "Michael Jackson: This is It" is proof of the power of music.

The film, which captures rehearsals for the late singer's planned London summer concert series, opened in 99 countries and continues to feed the legend of Michael Jackson's career, which began in Gary.

Local author and music historian Henry Farag, who's also a member of the doo-wop group Stormy Weather, is glad to see both Gary and Jackson continue to gain national attention.

But he's also on a personal mission to keep alive the spirit of the many other Gary music legends who claimed the spotlight long before The Jackson Five arrived.

"The initial musical influences that manager and father Joe Jackson admired so much and shared with his own children when he created The Jackson Five came from the performing talents that were already receiving major radio play in the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s," said Farag, whose 2000 book "The Signal" traced the footsteps of Gary's many music legends.

For Farag, who grew up at 11th Avenue and Whitcomb Street in Gary, the radio play he refers to came from station WWCA, which served as one of the inspirations for the title of his book.

The early acts

"When discussing Gary music legends, there are two groups to consider," Farag said.

"There are those performers who grew up and were raised in Gary, and then there's also another group of Gary musical greats who became famous because they were discovered by Vee-Jay Records in Gary."

Vee-Jay, founded in 1953 by Vivian Carter and James C. Bracken, a husband-and-wife team, became a major R&B label representing some of the biggest names of the day, including blues singers Jimmy Reed, Memphis Slim, and John Lee Hooker, and rhythm and blues vocal groups The Spaniels, who hailed from Gary, The Dells, of neighboring Harvey, Ill., and Chicago favorites The El Dorados.

By the 1960s, the label also tapped soul recording artists such as Jerry Butler, Gene Chandler, Dee Clark, and Betty Everett, and later Gladys Knight and The Pips and Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons.

Star Plaza Theatre CEO Charlie Blum describes The Spaniels as doo-wop pioneers.

The group, formed in 1952 at Roosevelt High School in Gary, was the musical vision of founder Pookie Hudson, who died in 2007.

The Spaniels biggest hit came in1954 with "Goodnite Sweetheart, Goodnite," which later was featured in the1973 hit movie "American Graffiti."

Humble roots

Some of Blum and Harig's other Gary favorites enjoyed considerable regional success, even though they never reached mainstream listeners.

"The Goldenrods, with their song 'Color Cartoons' and The Essex, with their hit song 'Easier Said, Than Done,' really helped create the style of doo-wop known today, and they did it right here with Gary roots," Farag said.

"These doo-wop groups were the ones that began singing on street corners in Gary, creating their own form of R&B music."

Blum said the Star Plaza's annual doo-wop concert, which started as a yearly event the same year the Merrillville theater began in 1979, continues to be one of the most popular annual concerts. Celebrating its 30th concert, this year's anniversary doo-wop show Nov. 21 will salute the styles of many of the Gary legends.

One of Blum's favorite Gary singers to book is Deniece Williams, whose song "Let's Hear It for the Boy" shot to fame in 1984 after it was featured in the film "Footloose."

Williams has played the Star Plaza five times since 1982, last appearing for a Christmas concert in 2006, the year Gary celebrated its centennial.

Legends of tomorrow

As for the Gary legends of tomorrow, there already are names hitting high notes.

Twentysomething Justin Johnston, born and raised in Gary, currently is touring as the lead in theTony Award-winning rock opera "Rent."

When he performed in Chicago during the national tour's stop last April, the Calumet High School graduate said he considered Michael Jackson a musical mentor.

He said he drew inspiration from Jackson's unique style.

"The first thing I remember from my childhood is Michael Jackson's 'Photo Album,' " he said.

"I must have been 1 year old when that came out. I remember dancing and singing to that while everyone watched. Those experiences were pretty much the teacher, as far as learning to be an entertainer and learning what was stage presence. That was my first foray into entertainment."

And today, his Gary influences continue to follow him.

"After I uprooted and moved to New York, then everything that happened there, the music, the gigs, the shows, the people I met, I had to finally stop and say, 'Hey I came from Gary, Indiana,' " Johnston said.

"It was in the Gary area, in their community theater, that's where I learned how to perform and do the things I do now."